Guitars and Gorka Pipes
by thinking in blue
Summary: Music is something creatures from all planets can enjoy, at least most of the time.


Guitars and Gorka Pipes

Crime is at an all-time low in Jump City, and while that was great for the civilians and the city's budding tourism industry, it meant the heroes residing in Titans tower were quite bored. Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Robin had played every video game they owned (Beast Boy wanted to "legally" download a few more, but Robin put his foot down), Starfire had run out of new hairstyles to try, and even Raven had gotten tired of meditating. They hoped that since Jericho was visiting today, he'd bring some much needed liveliness to the tower.

Jericho wasn't much for conversation, but he played a mean guitar. He sat on the couch in the main room and entertained The Titans with song after song. It was fun for a while, but soon they grew bored and tapered off to do other things, except Starfire. She was fascinated with the Earthly musical instrument, and thought it was one of the most beautiful things she'd ever heard.

"Excuse me, Jericho." She said after he finished a tune, "I've heard many songs in my life, but none as beautiful as the ones you've played on your guitar. You are truly are very talented. I used to be very musical, they say nobody could play the gorka pipes as well as me, but I haven't made much music since coming to Earth. I've always wanted to learn an Earth instrument, and if it isn't too much trouble, would you teach me to play your guitar?"

Jericho nodded politely, and placed the guitar in her hands. Starfire put her left hand towards the top of neck, and her right hand over the strings on the sound hole. "Is this correct?" She asked.

Jericho nodded again, and kneelt in front of her to adjust the placement of her fingers on the neck. He put her ring finger on the fifth string, her middle finger on the fourth string and her index finger on the second string, and handed her his pick.

She strummed the pick across the strings, playing a simple C chord. She grinned widely at producing such a lovely sound, and had fun coming up with different patterns to play the chord on. She strummed slowly at first, her wrist still adjusting to the motion, but her pace quickened as she went along. "This is fun. Teach me another one!" She said eagerly.

He moved her ring finger to the first string, her middle finger to the sixth string, and her index finger stayed on the fifth string, a G chord. "Oh this sounds lovely too!" She said as she strummed the guitar "Tell me, can I switch between the two?"

He nodded, and she tried switching from G to C, but the transition was rough "This part is difficult." She said, but she didn't get frustrated. After a few more practices she had it sounding pretty good, or at least decent. Jericho taught her a few more chords, much to her delight, and she soon could play some simple songs.

"This combination." She played a G, then two D's, three more G's, an E, and a C "Is very similar to a song my k'norfka would sing me when I was very small. Is it not beautiful?"

Jericho nodded sincerely. He thought that Starfire was a little rough around the edges, but with a little practice, she could be amazing at the guitar. She wasn't kidding when she said she was musically talented.

Starfire hands him back his guitar "I wish to thank you for teaching me Jericho. Wait here, I have a surprise for you." She says excitedly, and flies off down the hall, to what Jericho could only assume were her bedroom.

She returned after a few minutes, with a bundle in her arms. "These are my gorka pipes, a musical instrument native to my planet Tamaran. I wish to teach you how to play them, if you were interested."

Jericho stared at the gorka pipes, he'd never seen anything more bizarre in his life. They looked a little bit like bagpipes, but their resemblance to anything on Earth stopped there. The bag was speckled purple and pink, and there were at least 6 brass pipes stemming out of it, a few of them bent at odd angles. He wasn't sure where to place his mouth, let alone how to play the thing, but he figured there was no harm in learning.

She placed the gorka pipes on his lap, "Jericho, are you left handed or right handed?" She asked. He raised his right hand. She wrapped his left arm around the bag, placing his hand on one of the pipes, and put his right hand on one of the other pipes. She put a different pipe in his mouth, he assumed it was the mouthpiece "Now blow into this as hard as you can." He blew into it, not sure what to expect. Only a small hissing sound came out.

"You have to inflate the bag before you can begin to play." Starfire explained, "It takes a lot of air to do so." He blew into it harder. His cheeks puffed out, and soon his face turned red. Still only a hissing sound came out of the gorka pipes. He stopped, took a deep breath, and began blowing again.

"Don't get discouraged." She said cheerfully, "I know you can do it." He kept blowing, and soon a low rumbling sound like nothing he'd ever heard before came from the pipes. He tensed up his shoulders, shaking slightly, and dropped the pipes in shock.

"Aww… why did you stop? You sounded wonderful." Jericho could not believe how awful the gorka pipes sounded. True, he wasn't partial to bagpipes, and maybe should have figured they would sound somewhat similar, but this was a million times worse than the bagpipes. It sounded like an elephant dying, not music. He played a few more unpleasant-sounding notes, before politely handing the gorka pipes back to her.

"That was wonderful Jericho. I think you are the first human to ever play the gorka pipes. Perhaps someday we could play a duet together." He stared blankly at her, not sure how to respond. He didn't want to be rude, but he never wanted to hear those pipes again in his life.

"Or maybe we could play a duet on the guitar." She added sheepishly, "I know from what my friends have told me the gorka pipes can be hard on their ears, and I'd love to purchase my own guitar, and learn more. Would you be willing to teach me more?"

He smiled and nodded, as he was more than willing to teach her. "Oh glorious!" She exclaimed, and gave him a big hug. Perhaps a bit too big, as Jericho started to look a bit blue.

"Sorry, I was just excited." She blushed, letting him go. She extended her hand, "Thank you Jericho, for teaching me the guitar."

He shook her hand, and they ended their lesson for today.


End file.
